Where or When
by chiasypee
Summary: Shego loses Kim in a Smartymart.


Credit goes to ffordesoon, for being my beta on this one!

* * *

Shego stood there in the cereal aisle for a moment, disbelief colouring her face. Kim was gone. _Again_. Damn it! How did she keep _doing_ that?! Shego had just stepped away to grab some Honey Stars, just moved five paces away from the cart... For someone supposedly over the hill, Kim was _fast_.

She flung the box of Honey Stars into the cart and, with an exasperated sigh and a roll of her eyes, wheeled it to the end of the aisle. She began stalking across the supermarket, her sharp eyes flickering intently from shelf to shelf, person to person. Now... where could her Kimmie have gone?

This was getting annoying. This... this...

It hadn't always been like this. Kim was... Kim used to be... whole. All there. Herself, for all intents and purposes. Now...

Now it was no longer _Kim_ who slept beside her during the night. It was no longer _Kim_ whom she held, whom she kissed, who kissed her back. It was... It...

This was a _shell_. A fragile shell of the person Shego had loved, and who had loved her. It wasn't _her_ Kim anymore, and Shego was beginning to think _her_ Kim would never be coming bac—

Shut _up_, Shego. Stop complaining. Kim _was_ still... Kim. She... she just had her good days and her bad days, is all. Just like everyone else. What did it matter that on her bad days she could barely remember how they met, much less their wedding? What did it matter that on her bad days she believed herself _still_ in high school with the sidekick? That she believed herself _still_ at odds with Shego?

This was awful to think about. This was painful. This was depressing. _This wasn't what I signed up for._

Shego blinked back a stray tear, squared a wobbly lip. Not here. This wasn't the time. And as the supermarket swam back into view, she spotted her wife's greying red hair, all neat and wound up into a bun.

Kim Possible, ex-hero and former Global Justice director, was wandering Smarty-Mart with a forlorn look on her face. In her distracted grip: a carton of milk. Hm. Shego neared Kim warily. The first time this happened, the first time Kim had wandered off, Shego hadn't realised anything was wrong. She had figured her wife was just being _extra_ spacey and distracted, and had wrapped an arm around her waist and given her a kiss on the cheek. The consequent elbow to her stomach and punch to her jaw was thus quite a surprise. So was Kim's shocked, almost revolted look. Her cry of, "I don't know what you're trying to pull, Shego, but I'm still going to capture you!" was also rather unexpected. And then the retired hero had attacked her lover. Kim had only stopped when her back _gave_ _out_.

Shego sighed again and went in for the kill. She crept silently up to the love of her life, cautiously nudging the small of her back. "Kim," she said softly, almost hesitantly, bracing herself for any impending violence. _Good day good day good day—_

"There you are." _Oh, thank God._ "I was _so_ worried, Shego! Where'd you go?" Mild annoyance mixed with relief lined the wrinkles in Kim's face. "We'll be late for our appointment at the cryobank if you don't..."

Cryobank? Ah, yes. The culmination of the couple's ill-fated venture for children. Let's just say the people-in-charge felt Shego's... _chequered_ past meant she would not provide a nurturing enough environment for child-rearing. Even if her wife _was_ a retired teen hero (her career at Global Justice did not hold any weight, GJ being a _top-secret_ organisation and all).

"If you... don't..." Kim trailed to a stop, suddenly noticing the carton of milk clutched in her hand. Confusion creased her brow. "How..."

"Um... thanks for getting the milk, princess," interjected Shego quickly. She snatched the carton out of Kim's grip, dropping it into the cart. Kim looked blank for a moment. And then, all of a sudden, she was back to her normal perky self. "Aw, you're welcome. C'mon; I don't want to be late."

"Wha—"

"Ron's wedding dinner, silly! How could you forget?"

"Oh... right. Ron's... Ron's wedding." Ron had been married for over two decades. "Well, let's get going then, shall we?" Shego held out an expectant hand, almost like a mother reaching for her toddler.

"M'kay."

* * *

Inspiration for this came from an episode of some hospital show (NOT grey's), where an old man had to take care of his dementia-addled wife. _Where or When _by_ Frank Sinatra_ (the version I'm talking about, anyway) was Their Song, and his wife would often randomly ask him to sing it. She died at the end of the episode.


End file.
